Diaper wringer



H. F. DRURY DIAPER WRINGER A ril 16, 1968 Filed Feb. 23, 1966 INVENTOR Harry E Dru/7 WW9?!) a ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,377,827 DIAPER WRINGER Harry F. Drury, Rte. 5, Box 313, Jackson, Miss. 39212 Filed Feb. 23, 1966, Ser. No. 529,544 Claims. (Cl. 68-248) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A housing containing two wringer rollers mounted on two shafts, one of which is provided with a handle. The second shaft is movable laterally toward and away from the first shaft, and springs carried by the shafts urge the rollers together. The second shaft is also axially slidable and may be projected to engage the handle, thus locking the first shaft against rotation in one direction. The handle has a bevelled portion for unlocking itself from the second shaft when rotated in the opposite direction.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in wringers and in particular the invention concerns itself with a wringer for diapers.

The principal object of the invention is to facilitate prewashing and wringing of soiled diapers in a toilet bowl without the conventional necessity of placing hands in the toilet water or touching the soiled portion of the diaper. This object is attained by the provision of a device which includes a housing with an open top and bottom and a pair of wringer rollers in the housing. One of such rollers is resiliently biased toward the other but is movable away therefrom so that when a soiled diaper is placed in the toilet bowl, an unsoiled corner portion of the diaper may be inserted between and frictionally held by the rollers. The device may then be vertically reciprocated by hand so as to slush the diaper in the toilet water, whereupon the rollers may be rotated to wring the diaper without touching the same by hand. One important feature of the invention resides in the arrangement of the wringer rollers and of the resilient means by which they are biased.

Another important feature involves the provision of means for locking the wringer rollers against rotation in a direction such as would withdraw a diaper from the wringer into the toilet bowl if the toilet is inadvertently flushed.

Some of the advantages of the invention reside in its simplicity of construction, efficient and sanitary operation, and in its adaptability to economical manufacture.

With the foregoing more important object and features in view and such other objects and features as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention will be understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters of reference are used to designate like parts, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of the diaper holder and wringer in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view thereof;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view, taken substantially in the plane of the line 4-4 in FIG. 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary isometric View showing the crank in its locked position; and

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary detail illustrating the operation of the crank locking means.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the diaper holder and wringer is designated generally by the reference numeral 10 and embodies in its construction a box-like housing 11 which has an open top and an open bottom and includes a front wall 12, a rear wall 13 and a pair of side walls 14, it being noted that the upper por tion of the rear wall 13 is outwardly curved so as to form a lip 13', as shown. The lower portion of the front wall 12 is formed with an open recess 15, and a suspension hook 16 is provided at the upper edge of the front wall.

A shaft 17 is rotatably journalled in transversely aligned apertures 18 formed in the side walls 14 and a wringer roller 19 is provided on the shaft. One end portion of the shaft 17 is angulated to from a crank 17a carrying a finger knob 20, whereby the shaft may be turned to impart rotation to the wringer roller 19.

A second shaft 21, normally parallel with the shaft 17, is rotatable, axially slidable and laterally shiftable in a pair of slots 22 which extend in the side walls 14 in radial relation to the shaft 17, so that the shaft 21 may be moved in the slots toward and away from the shaft 17. The shaft 21 carries a wringer roller 23 which cooperates with the roller 19. A finger knob 24 is secured to the shaft 21 on the side of the housing 11 opposite from the crank 17a of the shaft 17, the shaft 21 being long enough so that the knob 24 is normally spaced away from the housing as shown in FIG. 2.

Resilient means are provided for biasing the shaft 21 toward the shaft 17 and thus urging the roller 23 toward the roller 19. These means comprise a pair of wire springs 25, disposed in spaces between the ends of the rollers 13, 23 and the side walls 14. Each spring 25 is ring-shaped and provided at its ends with a pair of eyes 26 which are biased toward each other by the resiliency of the spring. The eyes 26 of the springs encircle the shafts 17, 21 as shown in FIG. 4 and the springs thus urge the roller 23 toward the roller 19. However, the roller 23 may be moved away from the roller 19 against the action of the springs 25 by virtue of the slots 22. In so moving, the roller 23 may remain substantially parallel to the roller 19, as for example, while a diaper passes between the rollers, or the roller 23 may move away only at one end from the roller 19, as for example, by pushing the knob 24 in the direction of the arrow 27 in FIG. 2, while the other ends of the rollers remain together.

A pair of guide rollers 28 are rotatably supported by shafts 29 in the housing 11 below the wringer rollers 19, 23 and at right angles thereto, the shafts 29 being journalled in the front and rear housing walls 12, 13 and the rollers 28 being disposed adjacent the side walls 14, inwardly of the springs 25.

When the invention is to be used, it is held above a toilet bowl (not shown) and a soiled diaper (also not shown) is dropped into the bowl while an unsoiled corner portion of the diaper is held by the fingers and passed into the open bottom of the housing 11. The roller 23 is separated from the roller 19 as by pushing the knob 24 in the direction 27, and the aforementioned corner portion of the diaper is inserted between the rollers where it is frictionally held as soon as pressure on the knob 24 in the direction 27 is discontinued. It will be noted that the recess 15 in the housing front wall 12 affords clearance for convenient insertion of the diaper between the rollers 19, 23, while the guide rollers 28 prevent the diaper from becoming entangled with the springs 25.

While the diaper is held by the rollers 19, 23 and the housing 11 is held by the hand, vertical reciprocating movement is imparted to the housing, thus causing the diaper to slush in the toilet bowl for cleaning. The crank 17a may then be turned in the direction of the arrow 30 (see FIG. 1) in order to draw the diaper upwardly in the housing between the rollers 19, 23, the diaper thus being effectively wrung by these rollers and passing over the lip 13' at the open top of the housing to drop into a diaper pail, or the like. It will be noted that apart from inserting the unsoiled corner of the diaper between the wringer rollers, the entire washing and wringing procedure is carried out without the necessity of touching the diaper or placing hands in the water in the toilet bowl.

If it is desired to soak the diaper in the toilet bowl before wringing, the device may be suspended by the hook 16 from a suitable support (not shown) as or adjacent the bowl, the diaper depending from the device so suspended into the toilet water. Means are provided to safeguard against the possibility of the diaper being withdrawn downwardly from between the wringer rollers into the toilet bowl if the toilet should be inadvertently flushed. These means lock the shaft 17 against rotation, which is effected by pressing the knob 24 inwardly toward the housing 11 as indicated at 31 in FIG. 2, which causes the shaft 21 to be projected outwardly at the opposite side of the housing so that the projected shaft lies in the path of rotation of the crank 17a. The crank 17 may be turned counter-clockwise (against the direction of the arrow 30) only until it comes in contact with the projected shaft 21 as shown in FIG. 5, whereupon the crank will be locked against further counter-clockwise rotation to prevent downward withdrawal of the diaper from between the wringer rollers by inadvertent flushing of the toilet.

It will be noted that the crank 17a is provided with a bevelled portion 17b in the region of the crank which comes in contact with the shaft 21. When after soaking, the diaper is to be wrung by upward passage thereof between the rollers 19, 23, the crank 17a is simply rotated in the clockwise direction of the arrow 30 and as the bevelled crank portion 17b comes in contact with the underside of the projectin shaft end 21 as shown in FIG. 6, the projecting shaft end will be pushed inwardly by the bevelled crank portion 17b to facilitate continued rotation of the crank in the clockwise direction.

Manifestly, the hook 16 may also be used for hanging the device on a suitable support when the device is not in use.

While in the foregoing there has been described and shown the preferred embodiment of the invention, various modifications may become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Accordingly, it is not desired to limit the invention to this disclosure, and various modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A diaper holder and wringer, comprising in combination a housing having an open top and bottom, a

first wringer roller rotatably mounted in said housing transversely thereof, a second wringer roller mounted in the housing substantially parallel to said first roller and movable laterally toward and away from the first roller, resilient means biasing the second roller toward the first roller, a hand crank for rotating one of said rollers, first and second shafts rotatably journalled in said housing and carrying the respective first and second wringer rollers, said hand crank being provided at one end of the first shaft exteriorly of the housing, and the second shaft being axially slidable in the housing whereby an end portion thereof may be projected into the path of rotation of said hand crank to lock the first shaft against rotation in one direction.

2. The device as defined in claim 1 together with a pair of rotatable guide rollers mounted in said housing below and at right angles to said first and second wringer rollers.

3. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein the open top of said housing is formed with an outturned lip, and wherein the bottom portion of said housing is provided at one side thereof with a recess for facilitating insertion of a diaper between said wringer rollers.

4. The device as defined in claim 1 together with a bevelled portion provided on said hand crank for engagement with the projected second shaft when the crank is rotated in the opposite direction, whereby to automatically retract the second shaft from the path of rotation of the hand crank.

5. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein said resilient means biasing the second roller toward the first roller comprise a pair of ring-like springs each having a pair of eyes at the ends thereof resiliently urged together, said springs being disposed in said housing at the ends of said rollers and having the eyes thereof mounted on said shafts.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 450,080 4/1891 Lovell 68256 1,148,490 7/1915 Ellis 15-262 1,161,244 11/1915 Pawlak 68264 1,859,174 5/1932 Sassano 222102 2,113,187 4/1938 Williams 68248 2,808,716 10/1957 Zum Brunner 68-273 3,142,068 7/ 1964 Leventhal.

LOUIS O. MAASSEL, Primary Examiner. 

